Francis Aupiais (11 August 1877 – 14 December 1945) was a French

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

missionary, anthropologist, and writer. He was born in

Saint-Père-en-Retz Saint-Père-en-Retz (, literally ''Saint-Père in Retz''; br, Sant-Pêr-Raez) is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France. As of 2020 it has a population of 4,594. Population Notable people * Francis Aupiais(1877-1945) ...

and studied at the Missions Africains de Lyon seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1902. He briefly worked in Senegal before being sent to

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a region ...

. In 1903, he was named vicar of

Abomey Abomey is the capital of the Zou Department of Benin. The commune of Abomey covers an area of 142 square kilometres and, as of 2012, had a population of 90,195 people. Abomey houses the Royal Palaces of Abomey, a collection of small traditional ...

, and soon took on several other administrative roles in

Porto-Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Gu ...

. Aupiais was reassigned to

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

from 1915 to 1918. At the end of World War I, he returned to Dahomey and served as director of mission schools. Aupiais was an important religious figure and helped advance the careers of

Paul Hazoumé Paul Hazoumé (15 April 1890 – 18 April 1980) was a Beninese writer, educator, ethnologist, and politician. Biography Born on 15 April 1890, he descended from the Porto Novo kingdom's nobility, with his grandfather being a prime minister. He st ...

and

Sourou-Migan Apithy Sourou-Migan Marcellin Joseph Apithy (April 8, 1913 – December 3, 1989) was a Beninese political figure most active when his country was known as Dahomey. He arose on a political scene where one's power was dictated by what region in Dahomey o ...

.Houngnikpo & Decalo 2013, p. 67 In 1925, Aupiais founded the journal ''La Reconnaissance Africaine'', striving to publish ethnographic studies by Dahomeyans and popularize African culture abroad. He was a strident admirer of the indigenous culture and integrated traditional music, costumes and dances into religious celebrations. In 1926, he returned to Paris and sought to end forced labor in the colonies and joined the executive committee of the annual Louvain Missiology Week. Aupiais studied at the newly opened Institute of Ethnology in Paris from 1926 to 1928. That year, he became Provincial of the Lyon Province SMA, serving until 1931. Between 1929-1930 he produced two films, one a documentary on Catholic mission efforts in Dahomey, ''Le Dahomey Chrétien'', the other an ethnographic film of traditional religious ceremonies, ''Le Dahomey religieux'', which was censored in 1931. In 1938, he published ''Le Missionnaire'', an overview of his colonial life and work in Africa. The following year, his ethnological work led to him being admitted to the Academy of Colonial Sciences. Although he lived in France during this period, he frequently travelled to

. On 18 October 1945, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a populatio ...

to serve as the first representative from Dahomey in the French Assembly, together with Apithy. However, he fell ill and died on 14 December 1945 in France, never joining parliament. He was succeeded by fellow missionary Pierre Bertho.

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References

* *Ciarcia, Gaetano, (2019)
« Le paganisme et son ordre moral. Le vodun comme “pierre d’attente” dans le corpus filmique ''Le Dahomey religieux'' de Francis Aupiais (1930) »
in Gaetano Ciarcia & André Mary (ed.), ''Ethnologie en situation missionnaire'', Les Carnets de Bérose n° 12, Paris, BEROSE - International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, pp. 214-249.

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